6.24.2012

After a week in Ohio at the 51st annual UPAA symposium, Saturday morning it came time to put into practice some new ideas (can you spot the free-lensing?). And there was no better place to do just that than middle Missouri on the fourth and final day of the St. Louis North Stake pioneer trek in Mark Twain National Forest. You can see more on Facebook if you're interested.

6.16.2012

People complained (a lot) when Facebook made the switch to Timeline a few months ago. Come to think of it, we did too, a little... But then we realized how much easier and fun it would be to display our images online -- in a 12-13 image FB cover photo collage format, like these three:

6.08.2012

Ahhh, posing. Good when it's good. Bad when it's bad (ahem, see Awkward Family Photos). And then there are those awesome accidents that come about when you're just out having fun. Like these guys. We love this shot!About the photo: 50mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 250. No flash.

6.07.2012

It's time again for the annual Rendezvous St. Charles Photo and Art Contest -- and we've submitted a photo this year. Help us out and take a look at what other images Ben's "lucky shot" on Main Street is up against. Once on the voting page, click "Browse 2012 contest entries" to see which image we submitted, along with the 143 other competing images. You can learn more about the 2012 contest on the Rendezvous St. Charles photo contest web page. Voting ends June 15!Contest images must be found on Main Street and the adjoining riverfront, St. Charles, MO - photos or artwork. Quality and projection of the historic preservation theme are the primary factors to be judged.

6.05.2012

Because of Earth's position in the solar system, obviously only
Mercury and Venus can
undergo the unique alignment that occurred this afternoon and evening, making the Venus transit something worth pulling out the camera to record.
Here's my visual take on the twice-in-our-lifetime Venus transit, the rare occurrence of when a planet crosses between Earth and the sun:

And my editorial take on the transit: with as infrequently as I clean my 5DII sensor, a small black spec on the sun is definitely nothing new -- I see it way more often than I'd like... So after an hour of driving around looking for the right place to shoot the setting sun, I've decided it was certainly nothing worth writing home about. Nothing worth burning my retinas over. Oh well. At least I can say I "saw" it (I played it safe and never looked directly into the sun). Oh... and in case you want to photograph the next Venus transit (which will happen again in a mere 105 years), stack a bunch of filters and grab your longest lens.Equipment used: 200mm f/4, 1.4 Canon Extender, one ND2 filter, one ND4 filter, and one Circular Polarizing filter